Telangana expecting new railway projects in Union Budget

There are 11 projects waiting for Railway Ministry sanction, while there are 24 sanctioned new railway projects which are pending

Hyderabad: Citing Covid-19 norms this year too, the South Central Railway (SCR) has done away with the annual pre-budget meeting of members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from Telangana and neighbouring States of Maharashtra and Karnataka falling under its jurisdiction, for receiving budget proposals from them.

According to SCR officials, the Railway Ministry has cancelled pre-budget meetings of peoples’ representatives with officials of Railway Zones across the nation, which used to be conducted to receive information and demands related to rail projects and amenities. This was first cancelled due to Covid-19 in 2020, and since then, the SCR has not held any pre-budget meetings.

The downside of this is that States are denied the opportunity to take up pending project matters with Railway officials. Elected representatives are now forced to send their representations to the Railway Ministry directly without having discussion with local authorities.

With just two days left for the union Budget to be presented, Telangana MPs do not have any idea what proposals SCR officials have sent to the Railway Ministry. Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha MPs, out of which nine belong to the BRS, four to the BJP, three to the Congress and one to the AIMIM. All seven Rajya Sabha members from the State belong to the ruling BRS party. Most of the MPs have reportedly sent their proposals directly to the Railway Ministry.

In the 2022-23 union budget, Rs 9125 crore was allocated to the SCR as against the previous year’s outlay of Rs 7049 crore. The allocation for railway projects in the State in the Budget was Rs 7032 crore, as against Rs 5812 crore in 2021-22. The SCR is expecting a similar hike this year as well.

Since this is the last full budget of the Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and with elections to be held in 10 States, including Telangana during the year, the State government is reportedly expecting the Centre to announce new railway projects and passenger facilities for Telangana.

There are 11 projects waiting for Railway Ministry sanction, while there are 24 sanctioned new railway projects which are pending.

The SCR, which has already introduced Vande Bharat trains between Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, has plans to introduce three more Vande Bharat trains from Telangana to different destinations. According to railway officials, the new Vande Bharat trains could be introduced between Kacheguda – Bengaluru, Secunderabad – Tirupati and Secunderabad- Pune.